What Does WN8 Mean in World of Tanks?

Everything you need to know about WN8 and how it relates to World of Tanks.

A common question asked by new players in World of Tanks is "what does WN8 mean?" This is a term you have no doubt heard several times during your early World of Tanks career, often being thrown around by people who seem to really care whether theirs is good or not.

Thankfully, WN8 isn’t vital to your success as a tanker, but it can be used as a good indication of skill. As a new player, you are constantly looking for ways to improve in World of Tanks, as well as looking to understand what things mean and how stuff works. So, trying to understand WN8 is to be expected. Below, we've dissected everything you need to know about WN8 in World of Tanks!

WN8 Background

First, a bit of context. WN8 is the name of the current iteration of the WNx project, as lead by Praetor77. The previous version was WN7 and used a different set of algorithms to judge combat skill. WN8 is an improvement upon WN7 in as much the same way as the inevitable WN9 will be an improvement on the algorithms and calculations of WN8.

WN8 Explained

While your stats are tracked in-game, WN8 uses a different set of variables to determine your skill based on what it deems to be important qualities.

WN8 is essentially a number that represents an account’s skill, with zero being a terribly unskilled player and 2450+ being one of the best players. This number fluctuates as you play, with the main goal being to try and accurately assess your skill level.

This judgement of skill is made by observing an account’s contribution to a battle by looking at a few different elements of a game. These elements are damage dealt, kills, win rate, spots per battle, and other factors.

The algorithm of WN8 takes all these into account and spits out a number. For instance, by improving your damage dealt, you will be able to increase the WN8 number associated with your account. Our very own Larryn is currently trying to improve her WN8 rating in World of Tanks by making her way out of the "tomato" rating.

Along with a numerical value comes a color. For instance, any player with a low WN8 value will be assigned the color red, which is where the term “tomato” originates. As your WN8 climbs, so will your color until you reach the very best color, which is purple.

How Do I Check My WN8?

Our very own StrangeLuv_ is working her way out of being a tomato. She's up for adoption too!

Obviously, the only way for you to know your WN8 value is to check. One place where you can check your WN8 is at WoTLabs.net. To do this, you will need to select which server your account is on, either NA, EU, ASIA, KR, or UR. Then, input your account name into the field and click “Player” to search for your account.

What follows is a breakdown of your WN8 from its pure value to the value of individual tanks. You will be able to see your win rate, along with stats such as games played, victories, defeats, KDR, damage, experience, and more.

Further down the page, you will be able to see how well you perform with specific tanks. This is a good place to track how well you are doing and which tanks you perform well with.

WN8 is one of those things that can be confusing for a new player and phrase most new players are unfamiliar with, and while WN8 isn’t critical to success, it’s an excellent way to track your progression through the game. There’s no in-game leaderboard to climb—either as a community or personally—aside from your win percentage. WN8 gives you an actual number that can increase or decrease depending on how well you play, and as such, acts as a sort of meta-game within World of Tanks.

Sam Chandler is the Australian piece of the AllGamers puzzle. Out of all his gaming-related passions, collecting N64 games, speedrunning, and Souls games rank among the most important. You can reach Sam through Twitter, @SamuelChandler, or through his email,sam.chandler@allgamers.com, at any time of the day or night on either side of the globe.